| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Congress will strongly oppose four ordinances in Parliament The Congress will strongly oppose the proposed legislations for replacing three agriculture-related ordinances and one that brought cooperative banks under the RBI's supervision, during the monsoon session of Parliament. Senior leader Jairam Ramesh today said two of the ordinances pertained to agri-marketing and the third was linked to the Essential Commodities Act. He said the Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, besides the former Chief Minister of Haryana, had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. Punjab's Assembly passed a resolution against the ordinances, while demonstrations were being held in the States. Agriculture comes under the State list but the Centre did not even consult the State governments, he said. Mr. Ramesh said the ordinances, to the disadvantage of farmers, promoted contract and corporate farming, and would hit the revenue of the States, apart from destroying the mechanisms of the minimum support price and public procurement, thereby weakening food security. On the Banking Regulation Act, he said the Congress had five specific objections. "Cooperative banks are part of the structure of cooperatives and ought to be regulated by the State governments and not by the Central government. If the ordinance becomes law, all key financial intermediaries will come under the control of the Central government, there will be more centralisation. The Congress stands for de-centralisation and empowering the States," he said. "The RBI is being vested with more regulatory responsibilities. Its record of regulating banks in some NBFCs is mixed. There is no justification to make the RBI a regulator of district and urban cooperative banks," he said. Home Minister Amit Shah re-admitted to AIIMS Union Home Minister Amit Shah was re-admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, on Saturday night almost two weeks after he was discharged from there. He was earlier admitted to the AIIMS for post COVID-19-care. While the AIIMS has not released any statement on the health status of the Minister, Mr. Shah had in August tested positive for COVID-19. He later tested negative. The Minister was admitted to AIIMS on August 18 after he complained of "fatigue and bodyache." He left after 13 days on August 31 after the doctors said he had recovered. NEET exams take place amidst strict new measures Medical entrance exam NEET was held today amid strict precautions in view of the Covid-19 pandemic at over 3,800 centres across the country with students queuing up as per their designated time slots, adhering to social distancing norms. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) began at 2 p.m., but entry to centres started at 11 a.m. Students were allotted different slots for entry to ensure there is staggered movement and social distancing is maintained, according to the Press Trust of India.  NEET candidates wait in a queue to get into an exam centre at Peelamedu in Coimbatore on September 13, 2020. The National Testing Agency (NTA) has set in place strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) in view of the pandemic, including measures like reducing the number of candidates per room from the earlier 24 to 12. The NTA has also increased the number of centres from 2,546 in 2019 to 3,862 this year to ensure crowd management and staggered entry and exit protocols. Unlike the engineering entrance (JEE), NEET-UG, the medical admission test, is a pen and paper exam and held once a year. While all the candidates were asked to go to the exam centres with masks and sanitisers, once they entered the centre, they were asked to use the three-ply masks provided by the examination authority. I shall be the first to receive Covid-19 vaccine to end trust deficit, says Health Minister "I shall be the first to offer myself for receiving COVID-19 vaccine if people have a trust deficit," said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan while interacting on the Sunday Samvad social media platform. The Minister answered queries concerning the situation, the government's approach, the likely changes one expects to see in the post-pandemic world and the steps taken by the government in its facilitation. He said while no date has been fixed for the vaccine launch, it may be ready by the first quarter of 2021. He said the government is taking full precautions in conducting the human trials of the vaccine and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 under the Chairmanship of Dr. V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog is drawing up a detailed strategy on how to immunise the majority of the population.  File photo for representation. "Issues like vaccine security, cost, equity, cold-chain requirements, production timelines etc. are also being discussed intensely," he said and assured the vaccine will be first made available to those who need it the most, irrespective of their paying capacity. "The government is considering emergency authorisation of COVID-19 vaccination especially in the case of senior citizens & people working in high-risk settings. This shall be done after a consensus has been reached." Former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh passes away Former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, 74, passed away on Sunday morning in New Delhi after a prolonged illness. He had been admitted in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi in the second week of August with post COVID-19 complications. He was under treatment for lung infection and was put on ventilator on September 6 after his condition worsened. He is survived by three children. The five-term Lok Sabha MP representing Vaishali had been in the news recently despite his illness for expressing his disenchantment with the way his party for 32 years, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, was being run. Covid watch - Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stands at 48,35,101 at the time of publishing this newsletter with the death toll at 79,647. In Brief:  Fire atop Baghjan Well No. 5 was tamed after experts managed to cut off supply to the well by diverting the gas to two controlled flare pits. Photo: Special Arrangement The flame atop the Baghjan Well No 5 in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district has been tamed, 110 days after the well had a disastrous blowout. A blowout is uncontrolled escape of gas at great speed, usually due to equipment failure. Oil India Limited (OIL) and foreign experts on Sunday managed to divert the gas to two controlled flare pits. This cut off the supply to the well head for the fire to die out. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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